Dispute Over Money May Have Led To North Salem Socialite's Murder, DA Says

Police remained tight-lipped about their investigation into the murder of North Salem socialite Lois Colley, who was murdered a year ago on Wednesday, Nov. 9.,Photo Credit: New York Social DiaryEsdras Marroquin GomezPhoto Credit: New York State PoliceA large procession leaves St. James Episcopal Church in North Salem following the funeral of Lois Colley. The procession is from the church to a nearby cemetery.Photo Credit: FileAngel Parra Penafiel (second from left) is escorted into North Salem's local court in January 2016. He is accused, along with a co-defendant, of stealing $30,000 worth of hay from Lois Colley's estate.Photo Credit: FileState police patrol Windswept Farm, the 300-acre property in North Salem where Lois Colley was murdered the day after the homicide last year.Photo Credit: Daily Voice

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The suspect arrested and indicted for the 2015 murder of North Salem socialite Lois Colley may have been involved in a dispute involving money with the family, Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino said on Monday.

Esdras Marroquin Gomez, 32, who is known as "Victor," has been charged with second-degree murder.

Gomez, an undocumented Guatemalan native, worked as a part-time day laborer at the sprawling 300-acre Colley estate.

Gomez, who has been on the run since leaving the Northern Westchester area several days after the murder, was arrested in Mexico last week, Scarpino said. Gomez first went to Guatemala after the murder and then Cancun.

Much speculation had surrounded the homicide of the wife of multi-millionaire Eugene Colley, which occurred two years ago almost to the day. The 83-year-old Lois Colley was bludgeoned to death late in the afternoon, with the blunt-force trauma believed to have come from a missing fire extinguisher at the couple's 300-acre Windswept Farm estate.

Both 33-year-old men -- Angel H. Parra Penafiel and Hugo Ramirez-Morales -- lived on the farm where they were employed as laborers. They stole and then sold the hay over several years, police reported.